Newspapers

[rudo]

I have started reading some old english newspapers and I have some questions. Please help me.

Sentence: As a barrister of six years' call I am lucky to gross Ł50,000.

Question: Does "call" in this sentence mean "practise" ?

Question: In an old issue of an English Newspaper there was an article on London's bid to host the 2012 Olympic games.
Its headline reads: Paris leads, but London catching up on home straight.
What does it mean?

Paragraph in this article: ...But the bookmakers remain less confident. They still have Paris as the 1-5 favourite with London second favourite at 7-2. "All the money has been for Paris in the last month," said XY, a spokesman for Z. "London rallied earlier in the year but Paris is now the shortest odds it has ever been.

Question: I 'd like to know what the numbers "1-5" and "7-2" mean. I also want to know what "to be the shortest odds it has ever been" means.

[Tdol]

When a person becomes a barrister, they are 'called to the bar'.
The home straight- near the end of a competition
1-5, etc- these are betting figures- the number on the left is what you will win if you bet the number on the right
Shortest odds- If people think that someone is very likely to win, they give short odds, where you have to bet a lot of money to make anything- betting five pounds to win one is not making much money.